1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to systems and methods for inventory management, and particularly to systems and methods for stocktaking management.
2. Description of Related Art
Inventory management plays an important role in ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning). Inventory management has been researched and developed for many years, and stocktaking management is an important part of inventory management.
Most large-scale manufacturing enterprises have a plurality of warehouses, which may be located in a number of countries all over the world. How to manage and coordinate stocktaking of these warehouses is a huge, challenging task. Following the development of computer science and information technology, users can more easily manage stocktaking of both a single warehouse and a group of warehouses.
Japan Pat. No. JP2001088912 published on Apr. 3, 2001 and entitled “Stocktaking Managing Method And Stocktaking System By Image Recognition” discloses a method of stocktaking management of commodities actually displayed on a showcase, and a stocktaking system. The stocktaking system comprises: cameras monitoring commodities on a showcase; camera transfer devices transferring cameras to positions of designated showcases; a camera control device; a camera selection device selecting and inputting camera images; an image extraction device extracting outline data from a selected and image processed input image, and determining and outputting outline characteristic data such as an outline shape; a characteristic data file pre-registering and prerecording characteristic data; a counting device counting a number of each commodity based on the outline characteristic data; and a communication control device connecting and communicating with an in-store communication circuit.
However, the above-described system can only manage the stocktaking of an individual warehouse. The system cannot be used to manage the stocktaking of a group of warehouses. In addition, the cost of the system is high. Moreover, the book value of commodities cannot be updated automatically.